The Dell™ XPS™ 420 Cannot Start Because the RAID Array Has Failed

When starting the Dell XPS 420 desktop, the computer stops at the Intel(R) Matrix Storage Manager screen. The status of the RAID volume is listed as Failed and the computer cannot start Microsoft® Windows®. In most cases, this is an indication of a failed HDD. The Intel(R) Matrix Storage Manager screen should indicate the status of both the array and both drives. One drive will either indicate Failed or not be listed in the Intel(R) Matrix Storage Manager screen status at all.

RAID 0 - (Figure 1) Indicates the error message seen when one hard drive fails within a RAID 0 striped volume. Use the Port information under Physical Disks to identify which hard drive has failed.

Figure 1: RAID 0 Striped Error Message

RAID 1 - (Figure 2) indicates the RAID 1 mirrored volume has failed. You will need to troubleshoot all hard drives that are a member of the volume. This is a critical failure as the volume is not bootable or seen.

Figure 2: RAID 1 Failure

To troubleshoot you should 1st ensure that both the power cable and SATA cable are connected and reboot the system to see if there are any changes to the symptoms. If no change then Run HDD diagnostics by pressing CTRL+ALT+D after the Dell Splash screen or by booting to the Resource CD and running Dell 32 bit diagnostics, Custom test and select all HDD tests. If a drive fails the diagnostic, replace the drive then enter the RAID BIOS (CTRL+I at boot) and add the new drive to the array when prompted (This will normally occur in a RAID 1 Array) or if running a RAID 0, delete the existing array and create a new array then reboot and reinstall the operating system.

Note:

Creating a new array destroys the existing RAID Metadata and all data on the drives is unrecoverable. Creating a new array will require reinstallation of the operating systems and all applications.

Issue 2.

Recover the Failed RAID Array Using the Intel Matrix Storage Manager

If there is no hardware failure, the RAID volume may be recovered by using the Intel(R) Matrix Storage Manager.

Restart the computer.

When the Intel® Matrix Storage Manager screen appears showing the status of the RAID volume as Failed, press the <Ctrl> and <i> keys at the same time.

When the rebuild is complete, the computer restarts and the issue is resolved.

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